Winning a Nobel prize was no excuse for cancelling
class for two economics professors who were feted by the University of
Chicago Monday.

US economic scientists (left to right) Eugene Fama, Lars Peter Hansen
and Robert Shiller were awarded the Nobel Economics Prize at the Royal
Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, on October 14, 2013

University of Chicago professor Eugene Fama speaks to students
in his classroom at the university on October 14, 2013 in Chicago,
Illinois

Eugene Fama didn't even stick around for a champagne toast after a
celebratory press conference attended by hundreds of faculty members and
students.

Fama, 74, was preparing for his portfolio theory class when he got
the call from Stockholm that his work analyzing asset prices was being
recognized. A couple hours later, the man colleagues described as a
"phenomenal mentor" was teaching his students.

When it was time to stand up in front of reporters, Fama attributed
his success to the intellectual vigor of the university where he has
spent the past 54 years.

"I really value the fact that we have many points of view in the school and in finance," Fama said.

"We argue vociferously, but it's never personal, and that's a very unique atmosphere."

Asked if as a young economist he'd ever dreamed that he would become a
Nobel Laureate, Fama laughed and said "as a young economist I thought
about how am I going to feed my family."

His fellow laureate Lars Hansen, 61, was affectionately called a
"youngster" among the 88 Nobel Laureates affiliated with the University
of Chicago.

Hansen was about to walk his dog when he got the call and said he
didn't quite believe it was real until an old friend on the Nobel
committee got on the phone and "convinced me it was legit."

He planned on spending the afternoon with some "very energetic" graduate students.

Fama, Hansen and Yale economist Robert Shiller won the coveted award for groundbreaking work on spotting trends in markets.

"This work has had important both in the theoretical sphere but --
unlike a lot of people in economics -- there's a lot of practical
implications as well," said Gary Becker, a fellow University of Chicago
economist who won a Nobel in 1992.

The work has helped contribute to the development and success of
index funds, Becker told AFP by proving that "it's very hard to do
better than just buying the average of all stocks."

"Most people do worse if they pick their own stocks and that's an important lesson to learn," Becker said.

Fama's work began in the 1960's and found that stock prices are
extremely difficult to predict in the short run, and that new
information is very quickly incorporated into prices.

"The world is a very uncertain place and you'd expect that to see it
reflected in asset prices," Fama told reporters. "One of the criticism
of efficient markets (theory) during the 2008 crisis is that volatility
is very high... I thought that was a great experiment and it validated
the theory."

Hansen's work focuses on the connections between the macroeconomy and
financial markets and testing theories of asset pricing using
statistical models.

"I wouldn't be a very good investment advisory," he told reporters as students crowded around hoping to snap a photo.

"I'm very interested in how fundamental uncertainty influences
markets and also people's actions -- when its it productive, when is it
counterproductive," Hansen explained.

Lately, he has been focused on how to design public policy such as
the regulation of financial markets that is more transparent, less open
to discretion and allows the private sector to respond "in ways that are
productive."

"The fact that we have a lack of knowledge or uncertainty means we
have to be thinking a lot more about simple policies instead of much
more complicated ones," Hansen said.